


forgetfulness is a virtue

by broikawa



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish Is Trying His Best, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, College Student Adam Parrish, First Meetings, Flirting, M/M, Meet-Cute, POV Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch Being an Asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24376774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broikawa/pseuds/broikawa
Summary: adam forgets his laptop at a cafe and has a run in with an asshole (at least he's cute, right?)or ;; day 1 of pynchpromptweek's trc/cdth prompt week (flower shop/tattoo/coffee shop au)
Relationships: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 7
Kudos: 101
Collections: TRC/ CDTH Prompt Week 2020





	forgetfulness is a virtue

**Author's Note:**

> i stopped playing animal crossing for these nerds pls enjoy

_Shit_.

 _Shit shit shit shit shit_.

 _Of course I would do this_ , Adam thought, power walking his way back to the cafe he had left just twenty minutes before, _of course I would forget my_ computer _of all things_.

“Sorry, excuse me,” he said, pushing past people on the street, as polite as he could in his anxious state. He couldn’t stop thinking about what could’ve happened in the twenty minutes he’d left his laptop unattended. It could still be there, or maybe one of the staff members saw it and took it to some kind of lost and found. Someone could’ve taken it, of course, which would be the worst case scenario considering it was the middle of the semester and there was no way he could afford another one right now. The computer was practically his life force at that point, and he wasn’t sure what’d he’d do if he lost it.

Finally, taking in a proper breath, Adam reached the cafe, looking around to peek at where he’d been sitting. There, at the table he had been just twenty minutes before, was his computer, most definitely not stolen. This would’ve calmed Adam’s nerves, except for the fact that there was now someone sitting there.

He looked to be Adam’s age, if he had to guess, though he couldn’t look more different. He looked as if old people would call him “punk” as an insult, or as if he’d skip every class he had, or as if he’d deliberately stop listening to you whenever he didn’t care about what you were saying.

He hated it.

It wasn’t as if he was intimidated by him, no, considering he dealt with twenty-something College Boys every day and could handle talking to someone with a bit of character, but he’d be lying if the shaved head and the split eyebrow and nearly all-black attire and what looked like a tattoo climbing up at the base of his neck didn’t put him off a little.

This was fine, obviously.

Totally fine.

He walked up to him. The guy didn’t look up.

“Excuse me,” he said.

The guy shot a glance up at him. “Hey.”

“That’s my computer,” he said flatly.

“Cool.”

“I’m gonna take it now.”

“Nothing’s stopping you.”

He really hated it.

If there were anything Adam hated more than College Boys, it was College Boys who were also complete assholes. Holding in both an eye roll _and_ a groan (because, so far, this guy deserved both), he took his computer, putting his bag on the table to put it away.

“You’re at Harvard?” the guy asked.

“What?”

He nodded at the laptop. “You have a sticker.”

“Oh,” he said, looking at it as if for the first time. “Yes, I am.”

He put his bag back over his shoulder to leave, but, finally, the guy leaned back and looked up at Adam.

 _And he has a lip ring_ , he thought, _how wonderful_.

He ignored the tiny voice in his head reminding him that he liked lip rings.

“You don’t seem like one of those hoity-toity Harvard assholes,” he told him.

“I’m not.” Adam was quite sure that those “hoity-toity Harvard assholes” weren’t relying on student aid.

“Hm,” he said, sounding nearly impressed. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“What’d you mean?”

“My brother’s got friends who went there,” he said, “and they’re exactly what you’d think. So fucking annoying.”

“College boys sure are something,” he said, letting his voice drag.

“Why’d you leave it here?” he asked, eyes narrowing. Adam could tell he was just provoking him for whatever reason, but he answered anyway.

“I didn’t mean to.”

“You come here often?” he asked, and now Adam can really tell he’s just trying to be funny. He let that eye roll out. Not that the guy was flirting. Because he wasn’t, obviously.

He let the groan out internally.

“Why’re you asking?” he tried.

“Dunno,” he said, sipping his drink, some kind of caramel-coloured liquid. “Just wondering.”

“Do you?” Adam asked.

“You first, Harvard.”

“Yes,” he retorted, “almost everyday at this point.”

“You must be a caffeine addict by now,” he quipped.

“I’ve been a caffeine addict since I was sixteen.”

“You need that much coffee?”

“Do you know how hard Harvard is?”

“Clearly not,” he said. “I can see it produces caffeine addicts, though.”

His smile was infuriating.

“Your turn,” Adam redirected the conversation back to him, “do you come here very much? I’ve never seen you before.”

“Nope,” he said, “I don’t even live here.”

“Where do you live, then?”

“Skipping straight to the personal information, are we, Harvard?”

 _You are excruciating_ , Adam thought.

“I’m down in Virginia. My brother needs help with something right now, though, so,” he motioned down to himself.

“I’m from Virginia,” he commented.

“Well, shit,” he said, “small world.”

“Why are you talking to me again?” Adam asked.

“You’re the one that came over here,” he said.

“You’re the one that started asking me questions,” he rebutted.

He shrugged. “You’re cute,” he said, sipping his coffee again.

Adam stuttered, shocked, though not completely offended. “I’m sorry?”

“You asked,” he said innocuously.

Okay, so this guy wasn’t the worst looking person Adam had ever met. However, he was not about to go and start crushing on someone he’d been talking to not even ten minutes. It was not going to happen at all, no matter what. Definitely, absolutely not.

He _was_ pretty cute, though.

Adam shook his head, face warm. “Whatever, I’ve gotta go,” he said, remembering why he’d come back to the cafe in the first place. 

“All right, Harvard,” he saluted him, “see you around.”

“It’s Adam,” he told him.

“Ronan.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

“See you,” Adam said.

“Mhm.”

Adam left the cafe after the most deplorable conversation of his week thinking many, many things. First, he would _not_ be thinking about how warm his face felt. Second, he would be thinking about how he almost didn’t care that he would possibly be late to his study group. Third, he would be thinking about how not getting Ronan’s number was the second biggest mistake he had made that day.

**Author's Note:**

> lip ring ronan rights
> 
> tumblrs  
> etherealparrish (main)  
> ohmyhoneybun (lovecore/mlm)  
> historicalsgnificance (dark academia)  
> adrientheodorepercival (writeblr)


End file.
